MADISON BEAR GARDEN CELEBRATES 45 YEARS
CHICO » The Madison Bear Garden’s unique location right by the Chico State campus has cemented itself as a cornerstone of the local college experience.
This weekend, Madison Bear Garden celebrated its 45th anniversary serving as a place of respite for the community with its multiple bars, dance floors and its renowned energy.
Jack Safford, former bartender at the Bear, remembers a line he would recite into the restaurant’s loudspeakers in the mid ’80s.
“Ladies and gentleman, that upstairs bar is open for your drinking and dancing pleasure. And don’t forget — all cocktails and drinks tonight are $1.39.”
In the October 1987 Playboy magazine issue that labeled Chico State the nation’s No. 1 party school, Madison Bear Garden’s bar
was featured in one of its photos.
Safford was attending Chico State as a student while he was an employee from 1985 to 1989 and is still in touch with his coworkers.
“When you worked there, it was like you were part of a fraternity. Everybody hung out together; we went to after hours parties; it was a special little group of people that were there in the
’80s,” Safford said. “And now that we’ve all grown up, we’re just a complete diverse group of people.”
Stafford lived right next to campus, practiced on the field in the rugby team, and worked at the Bear through his education.
“My whole life was right there in a quarter-mile circle — never had to leave,” Safford said.
Working at Madison Bear
Garden allowed him to afford college, Safford said, and as a bartender, he’d earn more than $100 in a night just in tips.
“12 units at Chico State was $425 a semester. I could work four nights and make enough money to pay for one semester of college,” Safford said.
Safford recalls nights at Madison Bear Garden would bring in more than 200 people upstairs and the dance floor would be packed. Each weekend a fight would break out and the staff used secret codes to communicate different situations to deal with.
“In my comings and goings in life, you meet people and you say, ‘Oh yeah I went to Chico State; I played rugby; I was in a fraternity; I worked at Madison Bear Garden’ … and they go, ‘Wow, you worked at Madison Bear Garden?’ That’s the thing they are impressed
with the most,” Safford said.
Of the many people that worked at the Bear, one cherished employee named Dave Scott had worked there since its opening in 1977 until he passed away in 2014.
“He flipped bear burgers his entire adult life until he passed away, and we had a memorial service for him. All the people I knew from the ’80s showed up — it was an incredible get together.”
Jack Sterling, who has owned and operated Madison Bear Garden with his wife Darien Sterling since 1993, acknowledges the Bear to be a space with dear sentimental value for many.
“My wife and my role really is truly to preserve a special business in the community. We feel as if we’re the caretakers of so many people’s memories and great experiences. We’re caretakers of something really special,” Sterling said. “The business is far larger than both of us; our task is just to polish the pearl and protect it.”
Sterling said he and Chico State have worked well together over the years with the restaurant attracting potential students into Chico and regularly sponsoring the college’s athletics, clubs and student associations.
Madison Bear Garden
continued to operate through COVID lockdowns. Sterling attributes its survival to the community’s support.
“Through all the years I’ve been in the industry, I never would have imagined our restaurant, that restaurant, would have to — let alone could — live through the tough times that we
lived through COVID,” Sterling said. “The outpouring of support, concern and care from the community during those times; it was beyond touching to both my wife and I. We wouldn’t be celebrating this anniversary had it truly not been for people supporting us. … We’re eternally grateful for our community for that.”